Semiconductor lasers are necessary for many applications, such as trace gas detection, environmental monitoring, biomedical diagnostics, telecommunications, and industrial process controls. These applications can benefit from tunable lasers with extremely narrow linewidths and single frequency emission.
To achieve narrow linewidths and wide tuning range, external cavity laser (ECL) systems, Distributed Bragg Reflector lasers, or Distributed Feedback lasers with integrated tuning elements can be employed. However, the performance of these systems and lasers can be limited by unwanted mechanical moving parts, slow response times, narrow tuning ranges, and nonlinear distortions in the laser output.